America's Challenge

Explaining the origins of this post boils down to the following: it's always a good thing to talk about America. Here we go!

You can't change anything without understanding what you are trying to change.

The founders of America knew they were trying to create something that was in many ways antithetical to traditional monarchies of the old world. And they did.

America is set to change by design. But now instead of understanding other governments to create a new one, we need to understand our own. Our government wasn't just designed to oppose monarchies, it was designed to oppose instability. Our government rose the same time half of Europe decided to lose its mind.

The constitution did not design a government with quick progress in mind, nor did it even intend for much direct input from the masses. It was designed at a time when the masses were the ones screaming for and often obtaining monarch's heads.

The design stuck. America has had one constitution for it's entire history, which is barely short of a miracle. England may brag about having the Magna Carta for three times as long but their common law has accrued into something two steps short of gibberish so don't let that get you down. The key point is that American government is a balance of progress and stability, with an emphasis on stability.

This discussion brings the hammer down on uninformed criticism of American government. For instance, there are often complaints that congress has too much power and Senators in particular need term limits. This criticism is valid but far too weak to accomplish anything. Congress was designed to be elitist, to keep the masses in check just as surely as it keeps the executive branch in check. It was designed to be out of executive and even public scrutiny to a large degree. Is this right for today? No. But it is how America is, and without understanding that we can't begin to change that.

Moving to less friendly territory, America is often shamed for having high violent crime rates. The first challenge issued regarding this problem is an attack on the second amendment, and that is a difficult position for anyone to assault. The second amendment is in the bill of rights, which is second in importance only to the constitution and the declaration of independence.

Moreover having a gun in your home has been a part of American culture from the start. At the time the bill of rights was published people had just come out of a war and had reasons to fear another. Americans had an insecure frontier and plenty of reasons to doubt their own safety even in rising cities across the east coast. The second amendment was entirely intended to preserve the right to bear whatever arms civilians could get their hands on to challenge the dangers of the frontier and enemies from overseas, regardless if those arms were smooth bore rifles or muzzle loading pea shooters.

To reiterate, this is not taking sides on an issue, just pointing out what people are trying to change. For decades so many people have underestimated the unambiguous strength of the second amendment, and forgotten that it was written in a time when citizens would have taken its protection for granted. I see so much legitimate frustration from people who rightly claim that we are getting nowhere on the issue. This is because the right to bear arms isn't just a detail in American Law. It is American.

I'd love to go on another tangent about socialism in America, but the last 8 years and even the last two months have given far more material than I can feel justified glossing over in a few sentences. For now suffice to say that just because we have a problem that another country has solved doesn't mean we have to or even that we can solve the problem the same way. We are limited and defined by our government, but we are also unique in our individualism in a way that the rest of the world has envied since our founding. Simple solutions to complex problems have a decent chance at failing period, but failing to acknowledge that a problem is complex will not make the solution any more probable to succeed.

And America isn't perfect. Being able to say that makes America great, and being able to change that makes America great. Most importantly, refusing to be beaten when we fail as a nation to resolve a problem like gun violence or unreasonable health care or systemic racism makes us great. And we make America.

I can't wait to write posts like this for a larger audience and spark some discussion, but for now, if you enjoyed any of the posts on this page please share this blog with anyone you care to. Thanks for reading!